Poisoned
by LioSky
Summary: DiNozzo gets poisoned by the wife of a man who confessed to the murder of a naval officer. On their way to check out a new lead on a Cold case, things start to get bad...
1. Chapter 1

_Hi! This is my first Fanfic ever__! I would be really glad if you told me what you think about it. _

_I'm not a native English speaker__ so I apologies if there is some grammatical errors. And also, some stuff I have just made up, like the medical things, and places. _

_So here we go, enjoy! _

Their latest case involved the Andersson Family, where the husband Peter, was an engineer while his wife Susan was a scientist at the University their two kids. The team suspected that the husband somehow was involved in the death of a naval officer, while the wife and the two teenaged kids did their best trying to cover for him. Eventually, after a three hour-long interrogation, DiNozzo had managed to break the husband, and gotten him to admit that he had killed the naval officer with a hammer. He had done it in rage, after the officer had threated his wife badly, at a party they all had been on.

The squad room was almost empty; Gibbs team had gone home early that night. Gibbs thought that they all deserved it after the intense case with the Andersson Family.

Nathalie, an agent that had her desk next to Gibbs team, looked up by the sound of the elevator. She thought she would be alone at work at this hour. It was almost 23:30. It was a woman who stepped out of the elevator; Nathalie saw that she wore a visitor's badge.

"Hi there, can I help you with something?"

At the sound of Nathalie's voice the woman jumped and looked around the room before she saw Nathalie.

"I'm just looking for Anthony DiNozzo´s desk. I have a gift for him here, that I wanted to give him as a thanks for what he did to our family"

The woman smiled at Nathalie, and held up a small bag. Nathalie smiled back, and pointed out DiNozzo's desk, before returning to her report.

Susan Andersson went quickly to Agent DiNozzo's desk. She picked up the bottle of water she had in the bag, and put it next to the Agents computer. She then hastily went back to the elevator and stepped in when it opened, a cruel smile on her face as its door closed.

_Next Morning _

"Morning Tony. Sleep well? You did a good job yesterday."

Ziva smiled at her partner as he passed her on his way to his desk.

"Oh thank you Ziva, it was nothing."

He leaned back in his chair, put his feet up on his desk and smiled sneeringly at her.

"You guys could never have solved that case without me."

"Really, DiNozzo?"

Ziva laughed when Tony almost fell of his chair, when trying to remove his feet from his desk, as Gibbs entered the squad room, coffee in hand.

"Oh morning Boss, how are you today? Oh coffee would be nice."

"I take it that you are done with your report then, DiNozzo?"

Gibbs words stopped Tony walk towards the wending machines. And Gibbs did his best not to smile.

"Of course Boss, I'll just…"

Tony sat down again. He looked around his desk, and saw a water bottle next to his computer. He smiled towards Ziva; it was the same brand she always drank. She didn't look up though, eyes on her screen. He absentmindedly took a sip from the bottle before he turned on his computer, and started on his report.

Gibbs watched as his team worked. McGee arrived shortly after DiNozzo. And it was a quite couple of hours where they all worked on their reports and did some paperwork.

Tony sighed; he really didn't like to write reports. He had only written half of it, and already wished that they would get a new case. The last one went really well. He wished that they all were like that. He had suspected that it was the wife at first, and had even asked her if she had killed the victim. Unfortunately the daughter in the family had heard that, and came into the room crying. Susan Andersson had been furious. The evidence then showed that the killer had to be a man, so he had turned to the husband. The questioning had been long; Peter Andersson refused to talk at first. But then when Tony had said something of him, having a beautiful wife, he snapped. After that it had been easy to get a confession out of him.

Gibbs coming down the stairs from MTAC interrupted his thoughts.

"Pack your bags. We got a lead on a cold case. Bring your toothbrushes, we might have to stay over night, and it will be a long drive."

"Oh nice, where are we going Boss?"

McGee asked, and began to pack his things. He had been done with his report for some time now.

"We got a lead on the Engberg case. An anonymous tip came in stating that Lieutenant Engberg is in his cottage up in Tuscarora State Forrest. We are heading there now to check it out."

"Yeah, that is a really long drive Boss."

DiNozzo too, started to get his thing in his bag. He shook his head. He felt a bit off, like his lunch threatened to come up again. But pushing the feeling away he threw the bottle of water in his backpack and rushed after his teammates, nodding to Ziva was holding the elevator door for him.


	2. Chapter 2

When they got to the car Ziva took the front seat next to Gibbs who was driving, Tony got in behind Gibbs in the backseat together with McGee. Tim set up his laptop, and started to pull up information about the Engberg case. Lieutenant Kristoffer Engberg had been stationed at one of the Navy's research vessels, which was in port in Washington, when the Lieutenant suddenly disappeared. The captain on the vessel had contacted NCIS just a couple of hours after the time the Lieutenant had said he would be back. Engberg worked at a classified research project, and the team found out that he had gone missing because of something he had found out in his research. When they interviewed a former college of Engberg they started to suspect that Engberg was hiding the real results of the research from his employers. They hadn't found out why, but one theory was that he might try to sell it to an activist group called Enheten, but so far it seemed like the Lieutenant just laid low, and the teams check-up on Enheten showed that also their activity was low. This had happened three months ago. They had spent almost two weeks on the case, finally having to give up in the search for Lieutenant Engberg and the missing research results.

"I thought the cottage was already checked when we first looked for Engberg. Then we had the locals to check it out. Why are we going all the way there now Gibbs?"

Ziva asked, fastening her seat belt tighter as Gibbs made a sharp turn out from the parking garage.

"The anonymous call came to the research vessel, and the caller asked specifically if NCIS could handle it. And that is what we are doing now."

"But Boss, it's like three hours drive there, and we don't even know if he really are there. It just sounds like a big waste of time, if it turns out that the cottage is empty."

"Well DiNozzo, if you rather would go back to the office and finish your report I can drop you of at the next buss stop."

"Oh no Boss, I'm fine. This is like a road trip. That's always nice. A few good movies comes to mind actually..."

"Oh no, please Tony"

Ziva sighed, and to her surprise DiNozzo actually went silent. They drove in silence for a while. McGee read about the all the details about the Engberg once more, and decided to pull up more information about the cottage.

Tony didn't feel all that well. He had a strange feeling in his stomach that wouldn't go away. He was use to the feeling whenever he was in the backseat and Gibbs was driving, but this was a bit different. He thought it was a bit too early; they had only been on the road for 20 minutes. He put his hands to his face, and kept them there for a while, and then rubbed his forehead. He was developing a headache too. He decided to try to get some sleep instead, but just as he was starting to relax a bit Gibbs' voice reached him.

"Hey DiNozzo, check out if Engberg's wife or his family has had any unusual activity on their bank accounts."

"Sure thing Boss."

He reached down for his bag, which were by his feet, but as he did so a wave of nausea hit him. He got the bag and quickly leaned back on his seat and closed his eyes, fighting the nausea. He swallowed a few times and then it was gone. He looked at his team members; none of them had seemed to notice. He got out his laptop, and turned it on, waited for it to start, and then pulled up the right files. It was a lot to go through and his head wouldn't stop pounding. He tried to focus on the text on the screen in front of him, but he found it to be hard. He kept loosing where he was, and had to start over. On top on that the longer he read, or tried to read, the more nauseous he was becoming. _What is going on with me_, he thought. Then the nausea hit him again, he had to throw up!

"Oh hey, Boss, can you stop the car?"

He panted, trying to sound as normal as he could. Like there was nothing special going on, like he just wanted to stretch his legs. Gibbs threw a glance back at his senior field agent. The younger man was sweating, breathing deep through his mouth. He looked back on the road, saw a bus stop, smiled, and then pulled over.

"Thank you Boss."

DiNozzo quickly went out of the car, and found a trashcan next to a phone booth, that he used to empty his stomach content.

Afterwards he slowly stood up and saw a couple of kids standing a next to the phone booth looking at him. He smiled and nodded to them, then went back to the car. He got in, pushed his laptop closer to McGee and sat down heavily.

"You okay Tony?"

McGee asked him. Tony noticed that he pushed a bit farther away from him.

"Yeah, I'm super McGee. Just had something bad in my lunch I guess. You can keep on going now Boss."

He swallowed a few times trying to get the taste from vomit out of his mouth. He reached carefully for his backpack, and pulled out the water bottle and drank a bit. It did help a bit, thou he still felt a bit queasy. He leaned back and closed his eyes again.

Gibbs watched him in the rear-view mirror. He didn't look that well. Gibbs knew that DiNozzo had a thing for always getting carsick, but this was unusually fast. They hadn't even gotten out of the city yet. He decided to let it be for now, but something in his gut told him that it was going to be a long drive.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony woke up with a jerk. For a second he didn't know where he was, and then he felt the nausea coming at full speed. "Boss…" as all he could say, and then he felt it coming. But luckily Gibbs reacted fast. He saw what was about to happen, and in an instant he had pulled over to the side of the road. Tony got the door open and removed his hand from his mouth. He leaned out of the car and let it out, not even bothering to unbuckle his seatbelt.

Ziva looked back at him, and then reached into her bag in search of a napkin. She found one, which she handed to Tony when he sat back up again. He took it and wiped his mouth and face with it. Then he took the water bottle Tim handed him without saying a word. He took a sip and spat it out, trying to rinse the taste away. Then he took a few sips, and then slowly and carefully, he put the lid back on the bottle, not looking up at his teammates.

"Alright... well that… that was fun. Aren't you going to try it? McGee? Ziva?"

At his words Ziva just shook her head at him and turned around to face the road again.

"You're disgusting Tony," McGee said, and turned his attention back to his computer screen.

"You done, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, looking at him in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah, Boss, for now I think I'm done."

"Good. Then can you close the door?"

"Oh yeah, of course, Boss." He quickly shut the door, and let out a sigh.

Gibbs started to drive again. He noticed that the sky in the northeast was getting darker. The rain would soon be upon them. He looked at DiNozzo again. He was leaning his head back against his seat. His face was pale, except for his flushed cheeks. He was looking at McGee, and didn't notice Gibbs' eyes on him. They would soon be able to leave the smaller road and get onto the highway. What if DiNozzo got sick again there? They couldn't stop then. So at the intersection towards the highway Gibbs made his decision. Ziva noticed it right away and gave him a questioning look. All he did was nod back towards DiNozzo, and Ziva glanced back at Tony. Gibbs was probably right. Tony did not look well.

"Why are you sick, Tony?" She asked him.

Tony was startled by her question, and it took some time for his eyes to meet hers. "I don't know, Ziva. Why do people get sick, really? I mean, what's the point of that?"

"Yes, I don't see the point in getting sick, that's why I don't do it, Tony. Especially not while I'm in a car."

"Well, I knew I had to be in a car for three hours with you and McGeek here, so I just thought I would make it a bit more interesting."

"Well, you can stop with that now, DiNozzo, maybe you could actually do some good instead then," Gibbs added to their discussion.

"Oh, sorry, Boss, I forgot, it's always interesting enough with you around." After a glare from Gibbs he added, "Shutting up now, Boss."

Tony really wished they would stop soon, though he knew they had a few more hours of driving left before they got to the Engberg cottage. He just wished he could lay down for a bit. The nausea just wouldn't go away. No matter how he turned his head it was there. He felt like if he moved too much, he would throw up again. What did not make the whole thing any better was that the road was narrow with many sharp turns, and with Gibbs behind the wheel, that was no good. After an especially sharp turn, Gibbs had to hit the brakes hard. They all were thrown forward, and with that sudden movement Tony felt the vomit emerge.

"Stop! Boss!" Tony panted, and with that Gibbs again hit the brakes, almost causing McGee to drop his laptop onto the floor.

This time Tony released his seatbelt and stumbled out of the car. He barely managed to stay on his feet as he vomited once again.

When he didn't came back after a couple of minutes Gibbs sighed and stepped out of the car and went to check on his agent. He found Tony leaning heavily against the car with his eyes shut.

"What's up, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked quietly, so as not to startle the other man.

It took a while before Tony could bring himself to answer. He really felt like crap. All he wanted to do was lie down in a cool, dark place and just wait it out. When his boss asked

the question, his first thought was to answer like he always did. I'm fine Boss, just out here and enjoying the fresh air. But he heard the hint of concern in his boss' voice, so he decided to tell him the truth.

"Actually, I don't feel so well, Boss. I… I feel a bit sick."

"Yeah, really DiNozzo?"

Tony just nodded. He didn't even look up. He heard his boss walk past him and heard him say something to Ziva. The next minute she was there and he felt their hands on him, hoisting him up.

"Come on, Tony, we are switching places," Ziva said. They helped Tony get into the car. He noticed that Ziva had lowered the seat for him so he could lay down a bit. Someone strapped his seatbelt on. He wasn't aware on who it was. Then everything went dark, and he fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Poisoned

Chapter 4

DiNozzo was out in an instant. He didn't even notice when Gibbs leaned in over him and fastened his seatbelt.

After that Gibbs and Ziva just stood there and looked at him for a while; they were a bit shocked, and neither of them came up with anything to say.

"He's really sick, isn't he?" McGee couldn't hide his concern in his voice.

Gibbs shut the door carefully, so he wouldn't wake Tony. He and Ziva walked around the car, and got in. Gibbs thought that McGee was right; he couldn't remember seeing DiNozzo getting this carsick from his driving. But all DiNozzo had done so far was throw up, and now he was asleep. Maybe he'd had too little sleep the night before, or had gotten a cold or something. He wanted it to be something simple like that, but his gut told him there was something he was missing. But he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Are you okay Gibbs?"

It was Ziva's voice. And Gibbs realized that they had just been sitting there in silence for a couple of minutes, his two younger team members waiting for him to start driving again.

"Yeah. Let's go."

They were driving on a small road now. It started to rain. They still had a long way to go before they would arrive at the Engberg cottage.

Tony slowly came to again. His eyes were still closed, and he noticed that he was now lying down in the car. He didn't really remember how he had gotten there. His head was pounding, his throat was sore, and he felt really nauseous. He felt like if he moved he was going to throw up again, so he tried to stay as still as he could. Ziva and McGee were talking quietly in the backseat.

"What are you whispering about back there?" Tony asked. He opened his eyes and tried to look at them without moving his head.

"Oh, hi, Tony, you are awake," Ziva observed.

"Yeah, you noticed. What kind of advice were you giving the Probie there, Ziva?"

"That's none of your business, Tony. Go back to sleep."

"What? I just woke up!"

"You have a nice nap, DiNozzo?" Gibbs interrupted their conversation, and glanced at the younger man. He hadn't moved an inch.

"Yeah, I dreamed that we were there, Boss. How much further is it?"

"Probably about two to three hours. Can't drive that fast on this road." That was not entirely true. Gibbs could have gone much faster, but he thought that it would upset DiNozzo's stomach even more. He didn't tell the younger man that though. Tony just groaned in answer to that.

"You feel like throwing up some more, DiNozzo?"

"Not right now, Boss."

"Good. Let me know if you do, and I'll stop. You throw up in the car, and you can walk the rest of the way."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it, Boss." Tony closed his eyes again when Gibbs made a sharp turn with the car. He started to regret that he said he didn't need to throw up again. Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.

"So much for the nice road trip," Tony said. Talking always worked when he wanted to think about something else. "How are we on the case then, McGeek?"

"Well, I haven't found anything new yet, Tony. How did it go with the bank accounts?"

"Real fun, Probie."

"I'm looking into the bank accounts now," Ziva said. "I have found that the sister recently started to make withdrawals from one of her accounts, 300 each week. I don't know what that could be for."

Ziva sat with Tony's computer in her lap, her eyes locked at the screen. When Tony didn't respond, she looked up at him. When she saw him she cried out, "Gibbs, stop the car!"

But it was too late. Tony attempted to sit up, but then as Gibbs started to pull over, he had thrown up on himself. Just after he had spoken, he had felt it start to come up. He had to sit up! As he tried he was surprised at how weak he actually felt. He couldn't get up. And then it was too late.

Gibbs hit the brakes and was out of the car and went around to Tony's side.

"So-sorry Boss. I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I couldn't… couldn't stop it," Tony stuttered as Gibbs violently opened the door.

Gibbs saw the younger man tremble and the look in his eyes was confused and he thought he saw a shade of fear in them. Then he remembered what he just said about throwing Tony out of the car if he threw up in it. He leaned down so that his eyes were at the same level as DiNozzo's. "It's okay, Tony. I'm just going to help you get cleaned up. McGee, give me the water bottle."

Gibbs helped Tony to sit up, and handed him the bottle of water McGee had given him.

Tony took a few sips and then Gibbs started to help him get his ruined shirt off. Ziva found a NCIS jacket in the trunk that he could wear. As Gibbs helped the younger man to change, he noticed that he was unusually warm, and trembling.

No one said anything a few minutes later when Gibbs stopped at a gas station. He went inside and then came back with a bucket, which he put in DiNozzo's lap.

"Thank you, Boss."

Gibbs sat down in his seat next to him, and leaned over and fished a packet of pills from the bucket. He opened it and popped two pills out. He took the bucket from his agent, and then handed Tony the pills and the water bottle.

"Alright… I… I hope they'll help." Tony swallowed the pills quickly, and then drank the entire bottle of water. "Oh, those tasted funny. What were those pills? Trying… are you trying to poison me or something, Boss?" He slumped back against his seat, and winced.

"Ziva, I don't feel so good," Tony stated. "Would you give me a massage?"

In answer to Tony's question, Ziva slapped him gently on the back of his head. "Just sleep, Tony. "

"Yeah, that's good advice, DiNozzo," Gibbs said.

"Only if McGee sings me a lullaby."

"Yeah, right." McGee rolled his eyes, and Ziva laughed. Even Gibbs smiled.


	5. Chapter 5

After a few minutes of riding in the car in silence, Tony felt his eyelids started to close, though he tried to keep them open. He wasn't feeling good at all. And he felt as if he moved so much as an inch, it would get ten times worse. One of the problems was that he was so cold; he couldn't stop himself from trembling. He was tired too, and suddenly he didn't know why he kept fighting it. He took in a shaky breath, exhaled and relaxed. Not long after that he fell asleep.

Gibbs had been watching Tony's struggle to stay awake. He now took a longer glance at his senior field agent, and noticed that he was trembling in his sleep, and that his face was unnaturally pale.

"McGee, how much longer until we get to the cabin?" He asked quietly, glancing back at his agent.

"Eh... Boss, I think we'll probably be there in like two hours."

McGee had closed his computer when they had started driving again after they had stopped at the gas station. He figured he wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway. He was a bit worried about Tony. He had never seen him get this bad before. Maybe it was something more than just carsickness.

"Shouldn't we get Tony to a hospital or something, Boss?" McGee asked.

"Yeah, we probably should," Gibbs answered after a short moment. "But you know what he thinks about hospitals."

"Yes, and the closest hospital would be back in D.C., and we don't even know if Tony really needs a hospital," Ziva added.

After that they all become quiet; all of them silently hoping that they hadn't just made a big mistake.

Ziva, lost in her thoughts, was startled when Tony suddenly coughed and began to stir in his seat.

"Ziva!" Gibbs shouted.

She knew right away what Gibbs meant, and managed to grab the bucket and put it next to Tony's face just before he vomited. When Tony was done, he just turned his face away, eyes closed.

"Oh… there are the pills," Ziva stated with a disgusted sound.

"Tony, how are you feeling?" Gibbs asked, concern in his voice. He felt his gut do a twist, as DiNozzo didn't respond right away.

"Not good," Finally came the answer. Tony kept his face turned away and his eyes remained closed.

"Need anything?"

The question surprised all three of the younger agents. Ziva and McGee exchange a glance, and Tony slowly turned his head towards his boss. He didn't understand if Gibbs was serious or not. Also, he wasn't sure how he should answer. His brain seemed to be working slower than usual.

"I'm… I'm a bit cold, Boss," Was all Tony managed to come up with.

Gibbs leaned forward and turned up the heat. As he did so he also leaned closer to Tony, and he saw that the younger man's forehead was covered in sweat. At the same time his shivering was getting worse, and his breathing was rapid.

"We'll be there soon, Tony. I'm gonna find a place where you can get some rest."

"Sounds fine, Boss," Tony mumbled. He was finding it hard to concentrate on Gibbs' words. Everything was foggy. He felt a little like he was under water, like the water was holding him down, making his movements feel heavy. And on top of that, something was going on with his stomach. It burned. The more he thought about, the more it hurt. When the car hit a bump in the road, he had to bite his lip to stop himself from moaning out loud. He didn't know what to do. He had never felt this bad before, not that he could remember anyway. He had felt pretty bad when he had the plague, but what he was feeling now was bad in a whole other way. The pain in his stomach increased as time passed. It burned. He didn't know if minutes or hours had passed. He could hear Gibbs, Ziva and McGee speaking, but he couldn't tell what they were saying and didn't know if they were speaking to him or not.

When Tony didn't answer when Ziva asked if he was in pain, Gibbs decided to stop the car. He pulled over to the side of the road and turned to face DiNozzo.

Tony looked even worse now than he had just half an hour ago.

Gibbs gently tapped Tony's shoulder and said his name. He got no response. He then shook the younger man a bit, and then Tony's eyes finally opened and met Gibbs'. Gibbs was slightly taken aback by the look of sheer pain in DiNozzo's eyes.

"Hey, hey… It's okay," Gibbs said softly as he squeezed his agent's shoulder. He could see that the younger man was on the verge of losing it.

"Please, Boss…make it stop… hurts," Tony begged. He didn't think, he didn't care. All he wanted was for it to stop.

Gibbs heart sank as he watched Tony's eyes fill with tears. With his other hand he took Tony's left hand in his. "Hey, Tony… Tony… where does it hurt? Tell me where it hurts."

"Every…where," Tony panted, tears rolling down his cheeks. He turned his eyes away from Gibbs and stared blankly at the roof of the car.

With that, Gibbs turned his head towards Ziva and McGee in the backseat. "Call an ambulance."


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi guys! Just wanted to thank you for the reviews! Also thanks to my beta! _

...

Tony could feel it when Gibbs touched his shoulder the first time. He could feel it and he wanted to respond, but his body wouldn't do what his brain told it to. Everything hurt. He was numbed by pain. But then he felt Gibbs shake him, and the tension in his body let go, and he was able to move and turn towards Gibbs. As he did so the pain exploded in his body. He didn't know what to do. He opened his eyes.

"Hey, hey… It´s okay," He heard Gibbs say softly, his hand still on Tony's shoulder. But that wasn't true, not true at all. Nothing was okay. And Tony felt that he couldn't hold it in anymore. He couldn't stop himself.

"Please, Boss…make it stop… hurts," He begged. He just wanted it to stop. Then he felt tears filling his eyes. For a moment he thought of how embarrassing it was, crying in front of his team, but then it was gone, he couldn't hold the tears back from welling up, and he let them come. He felt Gibbs take his hand in his own.

"Hey, Tony… Tony… where does it hurt? Tell me where it hurts?" Gibbs asked him. Where it hurt? That was an easy question to answer. "Every… where." Then the pain increased and he turned his head away from Gibbs, and looked unseeingly up at the ceiling. He didn't bother to react when Gibbs told Ziva and McGee to call an ambulance.

McGee and Ziva looked terrified to Gibbs when he told them to make the call. Then they both got their phones out, looked at each other, and Ziva put her phone back in her pocket and let McGee call.

"Gibbs, can I do anything?" Ziva asked as she leaned forward. Gibbs just shook his head, all his attention on Tony.

"The ambulance is on it's way, but they said it'll take them a while to get here 'cause we're so far away from the city now. Maybe we should drive to meet them, Boss." McGee said after finishing the call.

"Good idea, Tim. Ziva, do you think you could drive?" Gibbs wanted to be able to be there for Tony, and if he was driving he couldn't do that. They quickly changed places and Ziva turned the car around and started to drive. Gibbs placed himself in the middle to be as close as possible to his suffering agent. Tony didn't seem aware of what was going on around him. He was still conscious, his eyes squeezed shut. He was trembling worse than ever and sometimes he let out a moan.

Gibbs leaned forward and placed a firm hand on DiNozzo's shoulder. As he did so, Tony twitched and made a movement as trying to get away, but relaxed a bit when Gibbs started to speak softly to comfort him.

"Tony, I want you to listen to me. We're getting you some help now. We're on our way to the hospital, and they're gonna help you there, okay?" Gibbs didn't get an answer, not that he expected one. He kept talking as they drove.

McGee sat perfectly still behind Tony, he listened to Gibbs comforting to him, speaking softly as if he were speaking to a child. Tim was scared. This was not supposed to happen. Not to Tony. Tony, who never showed any kind of weakness. It must be really bad for Tony to actually cry! Tony was crying, and that was what scared McGee the most.

Ziva also didn't say anything. She tried her best to go as fast as possible on the narrow road, and at the same time drive as carefully as possible, so as not to cause Tony more pain than he was already in. It was a difficult task, but she was glad that she was doing something to help her partner and friend. He really looked bad.

They had been driving for 15 minutes when they finally saw the ambulance coming towards them. Ziva stopped the car, and got out and signaled to it so they would know to stop. Two paramedics jumped out with a stretcher, and rushed towards their car. Ziva went around the car and opened Tony's door for them. A female paramedic leaned in, her eyes taking in everything as quickly as possible.

"Hi there, Sir." She said. "My name is Linda, and my partner Erik is here, too, and we're gonna help you now and take you to the hospital, okay? Sir, can you hear me?" she said, as she checked Tony's pulse.

Tony just moaned in reply.

The paramedics examined him quickly, and asked the team about his symptoms. Then with Ziva's help, they got Tony out of the car and onto the stretcher. Gibbs and McGee got out of the car and they all followed the paramedics and Tony, on their short way to the ambulance. They quickly got him in, and were about the close the door when Gibbs stopped them, and said that he was going to join Tony in the ambulance. He climbed in after Erik, and before closing the door he turned to McGee and Ziva, nodded to them and told them to follow.

He turned to face Tony, who now was very still on the stretcher. He took a deep breath, and let the air out with a sigh, his heart beating hard in his chest.

"Sir, I've already given him something for the pain, and started an IV. He's unconscious at the moment," The paramedic called Erik said when he saw the look on Gibbs' face.

"That's good," Gibbs said as he sat down by Tony's side. He looked down on him where he lay so still on the stretcher. "Do you know what might be wrong with him?" He asked quietly.

"I'm sorry, I don't, Sir. We have to wait with that until we get to the hospital and the doctors there can run some tests," Erik answered.

Gibbs nodded and took Tony's limp hand in his own. He leaned forward closer to Tony and whispered, "You're gonna be fine, DiNozzo."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Tim and Ziva stood next to each other and watched as the ambulance drove off with DiNozzo and Gibbs. Ziva took hold of Tim's arm and held it. She felt like she needed to have something to hold on to right now. Seeing Tony that weak had frightened her very much. He had been trembling, moaning in pain and crying. What could have happened to him, for him to react like that? He had to be seriously ill.

Then Tim said, "We should go after them, Ziva. Do you want to drive?" He carefully pulled his arm out of her grip and placed a hand on her shoulder. She still had her gaze on the ambulance, which was now nothing more than a dot in the distance.

At his words she shook her head slowly and then looked at him and nodded. They got into the car and Ziva started off after the ambulance.

"Ziva, do you remember what Tony said when Gibbs handed him the pills?" Tim asked suddenly, excited. "He said something about, 'are you trying to poison me'. What if that's it? What if he was poisoned? That would explain it!"

"Yes, McGee, you are right. He said they tasted funny."

"But that doesn't make any sense. He was sick before he had the pills."

"The water, Tim! He took the pills with the water. Maybe he meant that it was the water that tasted funny; he just didn't realize what it was."

Tim reached over the back of his seat and searched for the bottle. He found it on the floor behind Ziva. He put it up to his nose and carefully sniffed it. A metallic scent reached him. He moved the bottle away from his face and quickly found the cap and put it on. Then he reached for his backpack, got an evidence bag out and put the bottle in it.

"I definitely smelled something weird," Tim said.

"But who would poison Tony?"

"Well, who wouldn't?"

They both fell silent while thinking of who it might be. But then McGee got his phone out. "We should let Gibbs know someone poisoned Tony."

In the ambulance Gibbs sat next to Tony, still holding his hand, and explained Tony's symptoms more accurately to the paramedic named Erik.

Gibbs' phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was McGee. He flipped his phone open. "Don't tell me you're lost," He grunted.

"No, Boss, we're not lost. We're behind you, but, Boss, I think I know what's wrong with Tony. Or I don't know what it is that's wrong with him, but I might know why there's something wrong with him-"

"McGee!"

"Oh, sorry, Boss. I think he was poisoned. The water bottle he's been drinking from smells funny."

Gibbs didn't bother to answer, just shut his phone and told Erik what he had just heard.

Erik nodded. "That would explain a few things." He asked, "You don't happen to know what kind of poison it is, do you?"

Gibbs shook his head no.

"No, I guess it's never that easy," Erik said.

Gibbs watched silently as the paramedic updated the hospital. Then he turned his full attention to DiNozzo. Tony just lay there, very still, and pale. Gibbs laid his other hand on Tony's forehead and began to slowly stroke his hair.

"You're gonna be fine, did you get that, DiNozzo?" He continued to talk quietly to Tony, until Tony began to stir nearly 30 minutes into the trip.

"Hey, I think he's waking up. Are we there yet?" Gibbs asked Erik.

Erik moved to sit next to Gibbs and looked Tony over. "Yeah, I think you're right. And I'm afraid we aren't there yet. It'll be at least 15 more minutes. You keep talking to him, and I'll be here if you need me. It seems like he's calmer with you."

Gibbs nodded.

Tony moaned and then slowly opened his eyes a bit before closing them again.

"Hi, Tony, you with us?" Gibbs asked.

At Gibbs' words Tony's eyes opened once more, and this time they stayed open. Tony tried to focus his eyes on his boss, but found it was hard. "Whe…" was all he managed.

Gibbs understood what he meant. "We're in the ambulance on our way to the hospital. We think that you were poisoned, Tony."

"Poisoned?" Tony whispered. He couldn't think straight. Everything was just blank in his head. His whole body ached. He was stretched out on something hard, but he wanted to curl into himself and tried to do so. But hands stopped him and straightened his legs back out.

"Hey, Tony, you've got to stay still, okay? We'll be at the hospital soon," Gibbs' calm voice said.

Gibbs felt his gut twitch as DiNozzo didn't even answer him. He just stopped trying to roll on his side. But it looked like he couldn't keep his legs still. He kept moving them from side to side. He had his eyes closed now.

"Tony, how are you feeling?" Gibbs asked. He watched how Tony opened his eyes and looked at him, eyes blank, but he didn't respond.

"Are you in pain?" Still no answer. And this time he didn't even open his eyes. Gibbs looked at Erik, who then spoke to Tony.

"Tony, my name's Erik, I'm a paramedic. How are you feeling? Can you talk?"

"Mmm…" Was all they got. They looked at each other again. And then Erik checked Tony's pulse.

After that Tony didn't react any more to what they were saying to him, not even when Gibbs lightly tapped him on the head. When they arrived at the hospital, Gibbs was really worried about his senior field agent, and helped to unload him from the ambulance to a waiting team of medical personnel. As soon as they got inside, Tony was quickly whisked away, while a nurse stopped Gibbs from following and showed him to the waiting room. He slowly sat down on a bench and began to wait.


	8. Chapter 8

Gibbs had been in the waiting room for only about ten minutes when Ziva and McGee arrived. They had been running, but both stopped immediately as soon as they saw Gibbs sitting there.

"Boss, is there any news about Tony?" Tim asked as he came to stand in front of his boss.

"No, not yet. They told me to wait here until they knew more."

"Did you tell them he's been poisoned?" McGee regretted the question as soon as he asked it. Of course, Gibbs had told them. His boss didn't bother to answer.

Ziva sat silently down beside Gibbs. Tim stood where he was for a while before he also sat down. They waited in silence until Ziva spoke.

"Should we send someone else to the cabin and see if Lieutenant Engberg is there?"

Gibbs nodded. She was right. They still had the case to think about, but Tony was more important.

"Nah… it can wait. It's a cold case anyway. It can get a bit colder. It doesn't matter, Ziva." Gibbs said after a while. "First we need to figure this one out."

"Yeah," McGee agreed. "If someone really poisoned Tony, we need to figure out who did it."

"You think it was the water bottle, Tim?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah, it's the only thing it could possibly be. He drank from the same water bottle the whole time we were in the car. And every time he was sick we handed it to him…" Tim became quiet. He hadn't thought about that until now. He had helped to poison Tony; he'd handed him the poisoned water and urged him to drink more of it. He swallowed hard.

"Hey, you couldn't know it was poisoned. No one could," Gibbs said, as he understood what McGee was thinking. He stood up. "You two wait here. I'm gonna call Ducky and Abby." And with that he left the room and headed outside to make the calls.

Ziva and McGee watched him go, and they threw each other a glance before they leaned back and made themselves more comfortable, Ziva on the bench and McGee in his chair.

It wasn't long before Gibbs finished his calls and returned to the waiting room. Ducky was on his way, but Gibbs had managed to convince Abby to stay at NCIS and wait for the water bottle and other things from the car that were on their way to her.

About two hours later a young doctor approached them. They all sat up straighter, all their attention turned towards the doctor.

"Excuse me. My name is Dr. Magnus Philipsson. I'm Mr. DiNozzo's doctor. Are you with him?"

"Yeah. What's the word?" Gibbs answered.

"Mr. DiNozzo is stable at the moment. There were some complications for a few moments, but he's fine now. We've done all we can for him, but I'm sorry to say that we actually don't know what's wrong with him. I was informed that he's been poisoned. Because of that, we don't want to put any more drugs into his system, since we don't know what his reaction will be. If we give him something that doesn't interact well with the poison in his system, we might make everything worse, so we don't want to do that until we know for sure what we're dealing with." The doctor talked quickly and gestured with his hands as he spoke. It seemed like he wanted to say something more, but stopped at the sight of the worried faces in front of him.

"Sorry, people tell me I should just get to the point. Anyway, we're running tests and hope to find out what he's been poisoned with soon; maybe within the next hour, but it shouldn't take longer than two, maybe three."

"How is Tony now?" Ziva interrupted.

"Oh… " The doctor got a more serious look on his face. "I'm afraid he's not that good. We've done everything we can for him, but since we don't know what we're dealing with, we haven't been able to give him anything for the pain. "

"So, you are saying he is in pain?" Ziva asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. But it's just temporary. We should be able to-"

"Thank you," Gibbs interrupted. "Can we see him now?"

"Oh, yes, you certainly can. Right this way." The doctor turned around and started to walk away. They all got up and hurried after him. They followed him through a long maze of hallways. When he reached the door to Tony's room, the doctor stopped and waited until everyone caught up with him.

As they all stood there, Dr. Philipsson said, "I'd like you to wait out here for a bit while I go in and check on my patient and make sure he's up for visitors."

The doctor didn't wait for them to respond; he just went into the room and quickly closed the door behind him. A few minutes later he came back out. "It's all right," He said with a smile. "He's awake and wants to see you. He won't admit it, but I can tell he's in a great deal of pain. If you need me, or if Mr. DiNozzo needs me, just push the call button and I'll come as soon as I can." And with that he turned and walked away.

Gibbs just shook his head and then opened the door. Tony was half sitting in the bed, hands over his stomach. The hospital gown he was wearing made him look even paler than he did before. His head was resting against the pillows and he had his eyes turned away from them. They all went into the room and McGee carefully closed the door behind them.

"Hi," Tony said. He wouldn't look them in the eyes.

"Hi, Tony. How are you feeling?" Gibbs looked at his agent. He actually looked okay; pale and tired, but okay.

"I'm good, Boss," Tony answered a little too quickly.

"Are you sure? The doctor told us that you were in pain."

Tony quickly looked up at Gibbs, and then his eyes flickered away. "It'll be okay." He paused for a moment and then continued speaking. "Ehm… look guys… about earlier… what happened in the car, I was…. Eh…"

At first they wondered what Tony was trying to say, but then they got it; Tony was embarrassed.

McGee looked quickly at Ziva before saying, "What are you talking about, Tony? I can't remember anything about what happened in the car."

With that said, DiNozzo's body relaxed and he let out a sigh and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again and looked straight into Tim's eyes and then Ziva's.

"Good, me neither. I must've been sick or something, 'cause I can't remember what happened."

The three of them now knew that this was not to be talked about for a while.

"So, you think I was poisoned by the water? I thought you gave it to me, Ziva. It was …" he had to pause to take a few deep breaths. "It was sitting on my desk when I got in this morning."

"What were you thinking, DiNozzo?" Gibbs suddenly barked, causing Tony to jerk in his bed.

"Eh, Boss, I'm sorry, I just thought it was Ziva who…"

"It was not from me, Tony," Ziva said.

"Never drink something if you don't know where it's from," Gibbs chastised.

"Got it, Boss."

"But who put it there?" Everyone looked at McGee as he asked the question.

"I don't know, Probie." Tony tried to speak as normally as possible, clutching his stomach.

"Well, it's easy to find out. All we need to do is check the security footage," McGee said, looking worriedly at Tony.

"McGee, call Abby and have her do that," Gibbs ordered.

Gibbs had noticed the change in Tony's voice and saw that his body had stiffened. He got a chair and put it next to Tony's bed and sat down. Ziva did the same on the other side of the bed, while McGee left the room to go call Abby.

"Ohh…" Tony moaned. "I'm not feeling so good, Boss," He said, his voice slurring.

"What is it, Tony?" Gibbs asked. "Where does it hurt?"

"I'm… I'm not sure…it's like…" He moaned again and tried to bury himself deeper down in the pillows.

"Tony. Tony." Ziva said his name a few times, and they became worried when he didn't respond; he just clutched his stomach. His eyes were closed and he had a pained expression on his face.

"Ziva, push the call button," Gibbs urged.

Ziva did as Gibbs instructed and minutes later, Dr. Philipsson and a nurse rushed into the room. By then, Tony was unconscious.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hi guys! Here is finally an update! _

Tony didn't look up when the team entered his room. He didn't want to face them; he was too embarrassed. He had cried in front of McGee and he thought that was the worst part of all. He didn't want to seem weak now, not when they were all here and so worried about him.

"Ehm… look guys… about earlier… what happened in the car, I was…. Eh…" Tony finally said. He looked out the window, clutching his burning stomach, waiting for them to say something. He felt his whole body relax when McGee told him he didn't remember anything, and he knew they wouldn't give him a hard time about what had happened earlier.

"So, you think I was poisoned by the water? I thought you gave it to me, Ziva. It was …" he had to pause to take a few deep breaths. Suddenly he felt like he couldn't breathe as easy as he had a moment ago. "It was sitting on my desk when I got to work this morning."

He couldn't help but to jerk in the bed when Gibbs yelled, "What were you thinking, DiNozzo?" He mumbled something in reply. He was starting to feel very dizzy, even though he was lying down on the bed. The water hadn't been from Ziva. He couldn't really follow what was going on. Why would someone poison him? He tried to get his voice to sound as normal as possible when he answered McGee's question about who it might be. The pain in his stomach was almost unbearable.

"Ohh…" he moaned. "I'm not feeling so good, Boss." He was no longer able to control his voice, and he could barely get the words out. He tried to bury himself in the pillows. Then he couldn't speak anymore. He couldn't think. He couldn't take a breath. And then everything went dark.

Ziva and Gibbs were pushed aside when the doctor and the nurse started to examine their patient.

After a while Dr. Philipsson turned towards the worried agents. "We're going to give him some oxygen to help him breathe a bit better. Unfortunately, we still have another hour or so before the test results come back. So all we can do now is wait and hope for the best." He looked at them one at a time as he spoke. "Call again if you need us." Then he left. The nurse followed after she put an oxygen mask over Tony's mouth and nose.

Gibbs and Ziva sat down on the chairs next to Tony again. They didn't speak.

McGee came back a few minutes later. He whispered, "Abby's checking the security tapes now. She should find who did it soon." Then he also found a chair and sat down.

Gibbs just nodded in response. He knew he should send McGee to help Abby. He knew they should leave so the team could be ready to catch the bastard who did this to Tony, but he couldn't bring himself to do any of that. The way Tony had looked just before he passed out was etched into his brain. He just couldn't leave his agent yet. Not until he knew Tony would be all right. Gibbs couldn't bring himself to leave him alone.

They sat there for another thirty minutes. Tony seemed to be sleeping and his breathing seemed to be okay. Then suddenly his body jerked and his eyes shot open. Before any of them could react, he had pulled the mask off his face. He started to take deep breaths then looked wildly around in the room. It seemed like Tony didn't notice that they were there with him.

"Tony, hey… are you with us?" Gibbs asked softly.

Tony didn't acknowledge his boss' question. He kept breathing hard and his eyes darted around the room.

"Tony, we are here for you," Ziva said calmly as she placed her hand on his arm.

As soon as Tony felt Ziva's touch, he jerked his arm violently away. "No, no, no,' he panted.

Ziva looked at Tony, terrified, and then met Gibbs' eyes.

"Tony, I need you to calm down now," Gibbs said with a firm voice, turning all his attention to the sick man in front of him. He reached up to stroke his agent's hair. When he did Tony reacted the way he had when Ziva touched him.

When Tony felt Gibbs' touch, he jerked his head away. "No, stop, don't touch me." He curled up on his side, facing Gibbs. "Don't touch me… no." His voice broke and he started to shake.

"McGee, Ziva, go and find the doctor," Gibbs said, without taking his eyes off Tony.

Ziva and McGee hastened to obey Gibbs' order immediately, each sensing that the team leader wanted to be alone with Tony.

Once McGee and Ziva had left the room, Gibbs spoke softly to his senior field agent. "Tony, it's just me here now, okay? I'm not gonna touch you." Gibbs tried to catch Tony's eyes, but the younger man wouldn't look at him.

"Are you listening to me, Tony?" Gibbs asked when Tony didn't respond to him.

The first thing Tony felt when he came to was something over his face. It needed to go. He ripped it away and tossed it on the floor. He didn't know where he was. He was very warm, and it felt like his whole body was on fire now, not just his stomach. It hurt. And then it got ten times worse. When he felt something on his arm, he jerked it away. Someone was talking. And then the skin on his forehead felt like it was going to burn into his skull, and he did his best to get away. He pleaded for it to stop, he understood that someone had touched him; the same person who was talking. Who was it? Was it his boss? Yeah, it was. He forced himself to listen harder to the calm voice.

Gibbs could see that Tony was calmer and that he was trying to focus, so he kept talking quietly and calmly. After a while he got a response from Tony.

"Boss…?" Tony whispered.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Where?"

"You're in the hospital, Tony."

"W-why?"

Gibbs felt his gut twitch. That was a question he didn't want to answer. "You were poisoned, Tony."

Before Tony could formulate a reply, the door opened and Dr. Philipsson entered, followed closely by Ziva and McGee.

Gibbs moved out of the chair to get out of the way and the doctor walked up to Tony's side.

"Hi, Tony," Dr. Philipsson said. "How are you doing? Are you in pain again? I heard that you didn't like to be touched? I'm just going to take a closer look at you, okay? I won't hurt you. Just try to take deep breaths and everything will be fine soon."

Gibbs heard Tony mumble something to the doctor. Then he felt his cell phone vibrate. He backed away a bit, pulled the phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Yeah, Gibbs." As he answered the phone he watched while Tony flinched and moaned out loud when the doctor checked his eyes.

"Gibbs, Gibbs!" Gibbs could hear Abby's excited voice over the phone. "I know who did it! I know who poisoned Tony!"


	10. Chapter 10

_Hi everyone! So here is finally an update on this story! Thank you so much everyone for the reviews, and for reading __ And also thanks to my beta!_

Chapter 10

Gibbs listened intently when Abby explained what she had witnessed on the tape from the security camera; how the wife of the murdered naval officer on their last case, Susan Andersson, had placed the water bottle on Tony's desk. He felt his hand shake with anger when he ended the call and put the phone in his pocket. He watched Tony, who was also shaking, but for other reasons.

"How is he, Doc?" he asked, stepping a bit closer to Tony's bed.

"Well, it seems like the poison somehow has affected his skin. He's in a lot of pain," the doctor answered quietly, his attention on Tony. "I'm going to go and see if the test results are ready yet. They should be in any minute now. As soon as we know what we're dealing with, the better can we help Tony. I'll be back as soon as I know." And with that he left the room.

Tony lay on his back, as still as he could. His back was on fire, as were his legs, and his skin burned. It felt like he had been sunbathing a couple of hours too long without any sun protection. Even his closed eyelids burned. At least it gave him something to think about other than the pain in his stomach.

"Tony, how are you feeling?" Ziva asked.

"What do you think?"

"You don't seem that well," she started to answer him. She wanted to talk to him, to get him to think of something else. It was hard for her to see Tony suffer like he obviously was.

"McGee, Ziva," Gibbs interrupted. "I need you to go and pick up Susan Andersson right away. She's the one responsible for this." He was met with three pair of eyes looking at him. "Now. Go!" He added.

Ziva and McGee hurried out the door.

"Susan Andersson, the wife of the murdered naval officer?" Tony asked, looking up at Gibbs, breathing hard.

"Yes, DiNozzo. It was the wife." Gibbs sat down in the chair again.

"I should have known." He pressed his eyes together when a new wave of pain hit him.

"We're going to get her now," Gibbs stated before he turned around and pulled the plastic chair closer to Tony's bed and sat down. He watched his agent for a while. Tony didn't say anything else about Susan Andersson and Gibbs didn't want to do so either.

"You don't have to stay, Gibbs," Tony panted after a few moments of silence.

"Not going anywhere."

"Don't you need coffee or something?"

Gibbs took a closer look at his agent. He was lying very still and breathing hard through his nose.

"Do you want me to go?" he asked. Tony slowly opened his eyes and met Gibbs'. Gibbs nodded and stood up. He understood now that Tony wanted, no, needed to be alone. He didn't want his boss to see him like that.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm going to give Ducky a call," he said and left the room. He sat down on a bench in the waiting room and dialed. Ducky picked up on the second signal.

"Jethro, I've been expecting your call. How is Anthony doing? Abigail said he has been poisoned."

Tony felt himself relax a bit when he heard the door close. He knew Gibbs only wanted to help, but he had already cried in front of the whole team once now, and he was not about to let that happen again any time soon.

His whole body burned, everything was on fire, and while Gibbs was there in the room watching him, he felt like he really needed to keep it together. But as soon as the door was closed he let out a low moan. He had never hurt this much and this bad before. He just wished for it to be over. He moaned again as a wave of pain hit him.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he became aware that the door opened. The pain only seemed to get worse. He couldn't control anything anymore, and even though he tried, he couldn't stop the moans from coming out of his mouth.

Gibbs had been talking to Ducky for a few minutes, updating him on Tony's condition, when he heard moaning coming from Tony's room.

"Duck, I have to go," he said and disconnected the call. In a few steps he was at Tony's door. As soon as he saw Tony, his stomach made a jump and he silently cursed himself for leaving the room, leaving his agent alone.

Tony was lying sweating on his bed. He was shaking badly and breathing hard. His eyes were closed and he was moaning in pain.

Gibbs was next to him instantly. He leaned over his agent, hesitated, but then grabbed the younger man's hand.

"DiNozzo, Tony. Hey, listen. I'm here. Just breathe. It'll be okay." Tony's hand locked around Gibbs' hand and held on so hard it hurt. But all Gibbs did was to squeeze back, and continue to mumble soft words.

Gibbs couldn't remember the last time he had felt this helpless. There was nothing he could do to make Tony feel better. He wasn't even sure that DiNozzo was aware of his presence.

Suddenly, Tony made an attempt to sit up. Startled, Gibbs put a hand on the ailing man's shoulder and pushed him back down on the bed. As he did so Tony cried out in pain, and Gibbs remembered the doctor's word about the poison affecting Tony's skin. He quickly removed his hand. Tony's eyes were open now and Gibbs said his name. Their eyes met.

"Hey, DiNozzo. You with me?"

"B-boss…"

"Yeah. I'm here."

"Oh god, it hurts. Please, please make it stop."

At those words whispered from his agent, Gibbs almost felt ill. There was nothing he could do to make it stop! He leaned forward, closer to Tony.

"I'm working on that, DiNozzo. You hang in there."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"So Susan Andersson is responsible for all this," McGee said. "Why would she do something like that? Just come to NCIS and place the bottle there herself. Do you think she thought we wouldn't figure it out?"

"I do not know, McGee. Maybe she did not think of that at all. Perhaps she just wanted Tony to suffer, and did not think longer than placing the poison for him."

McGee and Ziva were in the car a few minutes away from Susan Andersson's home. They had been at the house only a few days earlier when they had brought the husband, Peter Andersson, in for questioning. Tony had gotten the man to confess to killing naval officer Martin Asp, just because he had said something derogatory about Susan at a party. The Andersson family was a dangerous family.

When they pulled up at the Andersson house, they saw that the family car was in the driveway. Susan was apparently home. Ziva parked behind the Volvo in order to hinder its path. They got out and approached the house. McGee rang the doorbell. They waited for a while without any signs of the residents of the house. But after McGee rang the bell a second time, they heard someone approaching from inside. The door opened slowly and a teenage girl stood in the doorway. She looked at them with an expression of disgust.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Hello, we are from NCIS. Is your mother home?" Ziva said as she and McGee held up their badges. She tried to look past the girl into the house. The teenager turned around and called out for her mother. A few moments later Susan Andersson appeared in front of them. She looked at them for a second and then grabbed the door and tried to close it. Both McGee and Ziva reacted at once and stopped her from doing so.

They weren't able to arrest Susan easily. She fought them, yelled at them, and refused to walk when they wanted to bring her to the car. Her teenage daughter stood silently and watched her mom, tears running down her cheeks. Ziva called an aunt to come and take care of the girl. They had to drag her screaming mother to the car.

When they arrived at NCIS headquarters, they lead Susan into interrogation and then left and closed the door behind them. Ziva stood leaning against the door for a few moments with her eyes closed. McGee watched her for a while in silence. They could hear Susan banging on the door, screaming for them to open it again. They left.

"Tony, I need you to take a deep breath, okay?" Gibbs stood by Tony's bed, leaning close to him as he tried to calm him down. "Just breathe, focus on the breathing." He didn't know what else to say at the moment. He didn't know if the pain would pass; he didn't know anything. All he could do now was to try to keep Tony focused on something else besides the pain. It didn't seem to be working that well. He could tell that DiNozzo was trying his best, but he was trembling and his breaths came out quick and hard. His eyes were closed and he had stopped talking a few minutes ago. No matter what Gibbs asked him, he didn't get a response. And that scared Gibbs. He decided to press the call-button again. There had been a nurse there recently, but all she had done was to fluff Tony's pillows a bit.

When the nurse arrived, she stopped next to Gibbs and asked if there had been any changes in Tony's condition.

"He stopped talking. Where the hell is the doctor with the test results?"

"I'll go and see," she said and left the room. Two minutes later she was back with the doctor.

"I'm sorry for the delay." He said as he walked in and stopped in front of Gibbs, on the other side of Tony's bed.

"Is he awake? Mr. DiNozzo, can you hear me?" Tony didn't show that he had heard. The doctor turned his attention to Gibbs. "We had some trouble with determining the drug. But it's done now. We know what it is."

"Well, what is it? Get it out of him!"

"I wish it was that easy, Agent Gibbs." The doctor sighed. "It is a substance called Alvedon. It's very dangerous to take in. We're going to give Mr. DiNozzo something of an antidote you could say. It will prevent the Alvedon from doing more damage. We'll also give Tony something to help with his pain. There's not much else we can actually do, I'm afraid," Dr. Philipsson said. "Alvedon is some scary stuff." He added with a blink to Gibbs. "I'll be back soon." He then left the room.

Gibbs sat down on the chair again. He carefully took Tony's hand in his.

"Did you hear that, DiNozzo? They know what it is now, and they're going to help you. You'll be fine soon." He felt the relief flowing through him. Tony was going to be fine!

Five minutes later the doctor and a nurse were back and gave the antidote to Tony as well as something else for the pain. They explained everything to Gibbs, but he didn't really care what the antidote and pain medication were called, as long as the drugs did what they were supposed to do; help his agent get better. Tony didn't move or say a word during the doctor's visit, but finally Gibbs detected some changes in him. His breathing was not as labored and he seemed to lay a bit more relaxed on the hospital bed.

"You feeling better, DiNozzo?"

"Mmm… I think… so." came DiNozzo's whispered reply.

"Try to sleep a bit."

"Okay…Boss."

After only five minutes, Gibbs was pretty certain that DiNozzo was sleeping, and then his cellphone started to ring. Tony woke and let out a moan. Gibbs cursed, and then patted Tony's arm and got up from the chair and answered. It was McGee, telling him Susan Andersson was in interrogation.

Gibbs looked back at Tony. His eyes were open, and he was staring at the ceiling. "McGee, you leave her there to wait for me. I can't leave right now. I'll be there as soon as I can." He ended the call and turned to Tony again.


End file.
